FRANCISI, Raffaele by Fabrizio Di Marco - Biographical Dictionary of Italians - Volume 50 (1998)

He was born in Rome in October 1821 by Francesco, goldsmith and silversmith, and Elisabetta Coldieri. Initiated to his father's profession, at the same time he devoted himself to architectural studies, under the guidance of P. Camporese.

His first documented work was the raising of the house in via Bocca di Leone 1-4, which he owned with N. Carnevali, co-author of the project (Archdi di Stato di Roma, Prefettura generale di Acque e Strade , r. fascies 121, 23 December 1843, Collected drawings and maps , I, cart 81, No. 332). In 1849 he planned the enlargement of the monastery of S. Maria in Campo Marzio, between via Metastasio 32-40, and vicolo Valdina, beginning a long and successful career that embraced the whole second half of the nineteenth century (F. Gasparoni, Le fabbriche de our times , Rome 1850, p.8).

Employed since 1846 to the Pontifical Mint of Rome, from 1860 to 1870 he held the office of verifier of the Office stamps goldsmiths and silver (State Archives of Rome, Chamber II , Zecca , R. 32, fascist 99). The director of the Mint, G. Mazio, in 1846 commissioned him to renovate the family building in via della Scrofa 39, and via della Stelletta 28, later sold to the Boncompagni Ludovisi (Ibid., Prefecture of Acque e Strade , r. , fascist 124, 28 November 1846). Later, FRANCISI intervened again on the building (1864-67), with an extension and reconstruction of the façade in the alley of the Spaniards 32-34 (Rome, Arch. Storolino capitolino, Title 54 , protocol 10627/1867). In 1870 he also designed the funeral monument for Mazio, leaning against the first pillar of the nave of the church of S. Agostino (Stopiti, 1880, Montevecchi, 1985).

In his vast production there were numerous renovations of private houses (Rome, Arch. Stor. Capitolino, Title 54 , protocols 5177/1860; 2951/1862; 8232/1867; 2857/1868; 16626/1874; 14579/1887; Building Inspectorate , protocol 2458, 12 July 1890, protocol 77, 7 Jan. 1897). Of uncertain date, but certainly before 1880, are "two great dorms in the house of S. Pasquale in Trastevere ... a new building in Via della Luce ..., the restoration of two houses in Via Gregoriana of the Congregation of Divine Pietà, the Palazzo already Naro ... in Via della Stelletta ... in the Palazzo Pio, now owned by the Banca Romana, ... and at the Palazzo dell'Ecc. Cardinal Micara in Via di S. Basilio "(Stopiti, 1880, sv .).

A good part of these interventions is characterized by the adoption of sangallesque compositional schemes, with the serial repetition of linguistic elements and decorative details, inserted in the facades with a careful study of the general proportions.

The Gasparoni (1858), commenting on the important restoration of the casamento of the Opera Pia Michelini, located in Piazza Navona, Via Agonale and Piazza Tor Sanguigna (1857-58), defines FRANCISI "fearing follower of the grandiose manner ... of the Sangallo" , and compares the work of the young architect to those of the major Roman professionals of the mid-nineteenth century, citing among others L. Poletti, A. Sarti, P. Camporese, A. Cipolla.

In the same area FRANCISI intervened in 1872 with the raising and reconstruction of the façades of the Canori Focardi building, in piazza Tor Sanguigna 3-7, via S. Apollinare 1-3, alley of the Tre Archi 1-3, later demolished to the construction of via Zanardelli (Rome, Arch. stor. capitolino, Title 54 , protocol 27102/1872). In the same year, the project to unify the properties of the Marquess Ferdinando di Lorenzana, located in via S. Caterina dei Funari 27-28 ( ibid. , Protocol 54869/1872).

The Gualdi palace in Largo Arenula, built in the three years from 1886-88, is particularly important, where sixteenth-century elements are dilated in the imposing façade. In 1887-89, FRANCISI designed an office building owned by P. Cartoni, husband of his daughter Anna, with his wife Isabella Cumbo, located between via XX Settembre, via Goito and via Castelfidardo; aligned with the nearby headquarters of the Ministry of Finance, the building was demolished in 1910-11 to build the building of the Cassa depositi e prestiti ( ibid. , protocol 1417/1889). Also for Cartoni in 1886 FRANCISI had designed a farmhouse with stables and barns located in Via Appia Antica, near the church of Quo Vadis ( ibid. , Protocol 45029/1886).

Among the unrealized projects we recall the one presented around 1880 for the new headquarters of the National Bank in Via Nazionale, which was not considered suitable as FRANCISI was not invited to the 1882 competition (Stopiti, 1880).

The theme of the funeral monument often recurs in the career of FRANCISI, who in 1866 redesigned the chapel of S. Sebastiano in S. Maria in Aquiro, to place the monument to F. Rota, with a bust of M. Capresi; of the F. are the altar with columns and triangular tympanum (Imperi, 1866). In 1868 he created the monument to the memory of Msgr. F. Vici di Melignano, located in the church of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo, in the chapel of the Assunta, with sculptures by G. Palombini. In 1871 he designed the monument Tognoli - Canale in the church of S. Eustachio, located on the left side of the chapel of S. Michele (Appetiti, 1964). From 1857 to 1865 he designed and directed important restoration and consolidation works in the church of S. Eligio degli Orefici, which particularly involved the choir, the crypt, the dome and the paving (Salvo, 1995), a post linked to the contacts of FRANCISI , through his father, with the Confraternity of silversmiths and goldsmiths in Rome. In 1858 he gave the drawings for the reconstruction of the altar of S. Andrea Avellino in the church of S. Andrea della Valle (Buchowiecki, 1967).

He was a member of the Accademia di S. Luca since 1867 and a councilor since 1875 (Rome, Arch. Arch. Of the Accademia di San Luca, vol. 127, nos. 102, 104 a, 182, n ° 188) ; since 1872 he joined the Society of amateurs and lovers of the fine arts of Rome ( Society of the amateurs ... Balance 1872 , Rome 1872, page 14). In 1881 he was elected a member of merit in the Congregation of Virtuosi al Pantheon, of which he was regent in 1893 (H. Waga, known and unknown Life of the Virtuosi al Pantheon , in L'Urbe , XXXI [1968], pp. 10 s.) .

FRANCISI died in Rome on June 26, 1901 and was buried in the family tomb at the Verano, built on his project in 1877.

His pupil was the architect E. Guj, as attested by a letter written by the latter to one of the sons of F., Camillo (Rome, Arch. Archivist of the Accademia di S. Luca, volume 164, n.104 ).

Sources and Bibl .: Necr. in La Tribuna , June 27, 1901; Il Messaggero , 29 June 1901; Rome, Arch. Stor. ACC. nat. of St. Luke, voll. 142, nos. 68, 93; 150, n. 150; 160, n. 53; 161, n. 1; 183, nos. 9 s., 24, 37, 66; 186, n. 22; Archdi di Stato di Roma, Treasurer-Ministry of Finance , r. 564; F. Gasparoni, Above a new architecture of the architect RF in the via Agonale and Tor Sanguigna , in Giornale delle variévities illustrated , I (1858), pp. 3-8; Id., Two words on a new house facade in via di Ripetta no. 199 to 200 , in Arts and Letters , I (1863), pp. 4 s.; S. Imperi, Of the Church of S. Maria in Aquiro in Rome , Rome 1866, pp. 82 s .; R. Bombelli, Brief historical information about the Roman Academy of S. Luca , Rome 1873, p. 18; G. Verzili, Warnings of some recent buildings , in Il Buonarroti , XII (1878), p. 179; G. Stopiti,Biographical Gallery of Italy , II, Rome 1880, sv ; J. Arnaud, The Académie de St-Luc in Rome , Rome 1886, pp. 353 s .; A. Busiri Vici, Sixty-five years of the schools of fine arts of the Insigne and Pontifical Roman Academy of St. Luca , Rome 1895, p. 14; LT Topini, Eustachian History , Rome 1895, pp. 148 s .; D. Angeli, The Churches of Rome , Rome 1900, p. 265; S. Ortolani, S. Andrea della Valle , Rome 1924, pp. nn; GM Pinna, Inscriptions of the church and of the palace of S. Apollinare , Rome 1935, p. 49; GC Bulgari, Argentieri, gemmari and goldsmiths of Italy , I, Rome 1958, p. 461; C. Appetites, S. Eustachio , Rome 1964, p. 77; W. Buchowiecki, Handbuch der Kirchen Roms , I, Wien 1967, p. 362; P. Portoghesi, Eclecticism in Rome 1870-1922 , Rome 1968, pp. 2, 199 n .; M. D'Onofrio - CM Strinati, S. Maria in Aquiro , Rome 1972, p. 32; S. Rebecchini, The last "zecchieri" of the Papal State: the Mazio , in the Strenna of the Romanists , XXXIII (1972), pp. 302-312; G. Spagnesi, Roman construction in the second half of the nineteenth century , Rome 1974, pp. 44, 374; G. Incisa Della Rocchetta, The collection of portraits of the Accademia di S. Luca , Rome 1979, pp. 86, 231; R. De Fusco, The Architecture of the Nineteenth Century , Turin 1980, p. 225; G. Delfini - R. Pentrella, S. Eligio degli Orefici , in Roman factories of the early 1500s, five centuries of restoration (catalog), Rome 1984, pp. 380-382; F. Giovanetti - S. Pasquali, Ornato public and renewal of the factories, 1826-1870 , in Rome, capital 1870-1911. Architecture and urban planning (Catal., Rome), Venice 1984, pp. 72 s .; B. Montevecchi, S. Agostino , Rome 1985, p. 95; L. Gallo, The architects active in Rome in the second half of the nineteenth century ... , in Architecture. History and documents , 1986, n. 2, p. 108; S. Salvo, The Church of S. Eligio degli Orefici , Rome 1995, p. 18

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